Happy Birthday Drew!

December 21st was the big day. Drew is finally 6! He's been talking about turning six since the day after he turned five; so it's been a long wait. In honor of the big day I decided to recap the day of his birth. Every kid should know about the day of their birth right?

At 3 a.m. on December 21st 2003 I woke up wet. I thought I had wet the bed. I jumped up and went to the bathroom to clean myself up and then I had to wake Brian and tell him that I had either peed myself or gone into labor. I wasn't really sure which. I wasn't having any pain so we decided to try to go back to sleep and see what happens. I managed to sleep off and on for the next two hours between contractions. I really didn't want to be one of those over-anxious first timers who ran to the hospital every time she had gas. So I kept insisting on waiting just to see if it was real. Finally at 7 a.m. we called my doctor who told me to get my butt in to the hospital ASAP. It turns out that once your water breaks the baby is at an increased risk of infection so they want you at hospital right away; not four hours later.

We had made plans to have breakfast with my mom that morning so we called her to give her the news and headed to the hospital. Our first rookie mistake was calling every family member and telling them we were at the hospital. By noon that day I had barely dilated but had 10 people in my room watching me and waiting for something to happen. My mom showed up with a huge platter of fudge that everybody nibbled on while I crunched my ice and glared at them all. By early evening I had gotten an epidural and needed a nap so Brian came to my rescue and kicked the whole family out. The only one allowed to stay for the long haul was my mom.

I started pushing at 8 pm and pushed for two very long hours. I was in complete shock at what a marathon this whole labor thing was. Finally at 10:03 p.m. Andrew Michael Iverson was born! I'll be completely honest here when he came out the only thing I was thinking was "Thank God that is over!". It took me a few seconds to snap out of it and realize it was time to meet my baby.

There he was staring at me with a head full of dark hair. I know it isn't this way for all parents but for me I was head over heels in love the second Drew and I made eye contact. It was just a feeling that overwhelmed me. Thank God I had that feeling because it was the only thing that got me through the next few days. The struggle with breastfeeding, the sleep deprivation all of it. Brian and I were thrown in the trenches of parenthood and getting our butts kicked quite honestly. It was definitely my overwhelming instinct with Drew that made me muddle through and figure out this whole parenting thing. Now six years later I'm feeling much more confident in our abilities. And we have a handsome, happy smart little boy to show for it.

Happy Birthday Drew! You are and always will be the one that made me a mother and for that I am grateful. I love you Bear!

The Christmas Tree Hunt That Wasn't

One of our most treasured Christmas traditions is going out into the woods and cutting down our own Christmas tree. We did it when I was 9 months preggers with Drew and we did it last year with a 4 week old Dane in tow. Nothing stops us! Except for a wacky work schedule and 10 degree weather. There was only a small window of days when we had a whole day to dedicate to the hunt. It just so happened those were the days when the temps never rose over 10 degrees. We decided it was smarter and safer for the boys to buy our tree this year.

Posing at the tree lot.

It was disappointing at first especially for Drew. But by the time we started decorating the Christmas Spirit won us over and we had a great afternoon making our bought tree beautiful. No worries though, we will get back to the woods next year. I'll make sure of that!

Daddy's little helper.

Finding the perfect spot for his ornament.

He Ate Poop!

There really is no gentle way to say this so I'll just spit it out. Last night Dane ate cat poop! I can't even begin to describe how disgusting this whole event was. Let's start with Abby, the cat. The evil, diabolical cat who on occasion will do her business somewhere other than the litter box. She has done it on clothes left in a pile, on a pillow or two and most recently on the dogs bed. We were gone for several hours yesterday afternoon. Not long after we got home I walked into the den to see Dane sitting on the floor in front of the dog bed. I looked down and saw the little pile of poop that Abby left for us. Then I looked at Dane and saw the piece he was clutching in his fist. At this moment I let out something between a scream and a groan of disgust. This startled poor Dane so much that he fell backwards and landed flat on his back screaming. Which is when I caught sight of the poop floating around in his mouth!

Thankfully Brian was home to help because I honestly froze for a minute totally unsure of what to do. This was by far the most foul thing either of my kids have done. I did snap out of it and we tackled the job of bathing and disinfecting every inch of his little body. I am actually not a germ freak by any means but I have my limits and cat poop is one of them. Dane is clean and not at all worse for the wear. The cat on the other hand is walking on thin ice. The only thing saving her fuzzy butt right now is the fact that she is Drew's cat and he loves her. Only a truly cruel mother would give away a little boys beloved pet. I have no idea how to prevent further cat poop snacks but hopefully we'll come up with something quick.


I did not take the time to document the chaos last night so this is just a picture of the evil culprit. I've taken to calling her Shitty when Drew isn't around. It's my totally juvenile way of dealing with this whole thing. Do not let her cute face fool you, there is evil in those eyes I swear!

Thanksgiving In Review

Let's talk Turkey! Yes we made it through another Thanksgiving. The morning was probably my favorite part of the whole day. I got up and made pumpkin waffles and we stayed in our pajamas and watched the parade as long as we could before having to head out. This year we spent the holiday with my in-law's at Brian's mom's house. Overall it was a very nice day. The usual Thanksgiving fair; food, football, family. Unfortunately the boys are the only kids on this side of the family so they can get a little bored and restless. And to make it worse Drew was battling a cold. Brian and I took turns playing soccer in the back yard, crawling up and down the stairs and coloring pictures to keep the charges happy. It worked well for a while but we did not hang around long after dinner.

Pre-meltdown chow time.

I've gotten pretty good at predicting meltdowns and I could tell before the first helpings of sweet potatoes were eaten that we were on our way. So, in order to save the rest of the family from witnessing the carnage we got out of there. We managed to salvage the rest of our day with some more quiet family time at home that evening. I was finding myself very thankful for my boys and our cozy little home. It couldn't have worked out better in my opinion.

And away we go!

So the season has officially started. I always feel like Thanksgiving Day is the equivalent to starting a big race. The whole family is at the starting line; stretching, warming up, plotting the course in their heads. The minute the turkey hits the table it's like the gun going off. Everyone starts running! We eat, we shop, we socialize, we go as fast as we can and before you know it we've hit the finish line. Evey year I tell myself we'll slow down and every year it feels just as chaotic as it always has. But the thing is that in the midst of it I'm having a blast. Sure there's some stress here and there but usually it's unnecessary and totally self-imposed. But when I think about cutting out some of our many holiday traditions I can't think of one that I would want to stop doing. I'm like a holiday stress addict or something.



Hopefully I will at least be able to find the time to write about all the memories we create this season as they happen. There is a lot to look forward to in the next couple of weeks; the big Christmas tree hunt, Drew's 6th birthday, visits with Santa, building Gingerbread houses at Grammy's house, homemade Christmas presents to make and of course the main event Christmas morning.


Stay tuned, there should be much more to come!